this ron paul fellow is really an internet sensation, he is bringing all the libertarians we knew existed out of the woodwork and stirring up trouble. i cant decide if i like him or not. his economic policy is the best thing i have ever heard, agreeing with me that we can just go ahead and abolish huge sections of government and lower taxes drastically. he is also a madman advocate of free trade, and i think if his policies were enacted it would be incredible, just stunning for wealth worldwide. his free trade policies would do more for the global standard of living than anything else could. plus he is in favor of drug legalization, which would save so much money and strain on the cops and jails and reduce crime. however, he is kinda odd with his favoring a return to the gold standard. i do not understand the implications of this, all i can remember about the gold standard is what i was taught in high school. i wouldnt mind if this were explained to me, what impact it would have, how it would work. and nothing is more right than isolationist libertarian foreign policy, but unfortunately there has never been a time when it was a worse idea. i think we should never manipulate anyone, never do anything, never save anyone or liberate anyone or manipulate the affairs of any country. but the ship sailed on that years ago. so this is the wrong time for the ron paul foreign policy, which sucks because if we used this policy before we might not be in this mess we are in. then again, maybe we would, you cant really account for the craziness of fundamentalists. also ron paul is pro-life, which seem incongruous for a man so opposed to government intervention in the lives of individuals. religion ruins everything. of course this is a non-issue in my mind either way. the question is whether the wealth inducing trade and tax policies are worth it relative to the terrorist-enabling war pullout policy. maybe. maybe the global riches that free trade would induce would lessen the anger of the radical disenfranchised terrorists of the world. probably not i guess. it is a moot point though, because he has no chance. but i do like that he may change the angle of the debate a little.
Well its not often I agree with Martin, but I like a lot of what Ron Paul has to say also. Especially on fiscal responsibility which has been sorely lacking the last 7 years. A balanced budget was turned over to Bush and the repub congress in 2000, and they will produce the greatest 8 year federal deficit in history. It won't be close, the deficit of this admin will dwarf that of any other 2 term president, even adjusting for inflation (possible exception to WWII). The deficits contribute significantly to the weak dollar, and if we look at the fall in the value of the dollar, and translate it into oil cost, the drop in the dollar alone would have taken oil from $30 per barrel to $48 per barrel. With oil at $60, I'd attribute the other $12 (60 - 48) to demand from China and India. The value of the dollar matters in your everyday life. The reason we don't see it in everything we import is that China was not a part of the world economy until recently, and they are exporting their low labor cost which compensates for the low value of the dollar on their manufactured goods. Ron Paul will not win. He will not line corporate america's pockets, so they won't support him. We'll get someone who is in their pocket, someone that will tell us just what we want to hear. He'll be outspent and/or swiftboated.
I hope Fred Thomson wins, but only because his wife is smoking hot. I mean, DAYUM! But my vote will go to Ron Paul. I really like his voting record and libertarian values.
As you might expect, I have mixed feelings about a gold standard. It has been dropped before for inflexibiity in a dynamic economy and is recommended by few economists. A fixed rate of exchange has no organic relationship between the supply and demand of gold and the supply and demand of goods. On the other hand it prevents governments from artificially devalueing their currency and it enforces fiscal discipline on the government which are good things. Not all wealthy countries possess enough gold reserves to support a gold standard currency, anyway. Also many countries want to reduce dependence on the United States dollar as a reserve currency.
I saw Ron Paul on the Colbert Report and liked what he had to say. So then I started doing some research on him and am very impressed.
Same here. The only problem I have with him is not his fault: many of the 9/11 "Truther" morons seem to support him as well. That makes me uncomfortable to be vocal about the same candidate that the biggest 'tards in America are supporting. Normally that would just be the Democrat candidate.
I hear you. But there are always going to be morons out there. I guess it's better if they are voting your way than against though. I really like Ron Paul's stance on reducing government. I a lot of Republicans preach it but Ron Paul may actually attempt to do it. Judging from his voting record he seems to be very consistent on his ideals.
